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Monday, March 31, 2014

When Lauren Monroe first laid eyes on Michael Delaney back in high school, she had every reason to stay away from him; within minutes of their first encounter, his volatile actions confirmed his notorious reputation. But Lauren saw something in him that caused her to question his bad-boy persona, and against her better judgment, she took a chance. She had no way of knowing that the unlikely friendship they formed would become so important to her.

Or that it would end so painfully.

Eight years later, when Lauren begins her new job at Learn and Grow Day Care, Michael is the last person she expects to see. Refusing to revisit the hurt and confusion of their past, Lauren vows to keep her distance from him. But staying away from Michael proves to be more difficult than she thought, despite her lingering grief and her instincts for self-preservation.

As Lauren and Michael recall the friendship that changed them forever and the events that tore them apart, will they finally be able to heal? Or will the ghosts of Michael’s past prove to be too much to overcome?

This is more than a 5 star read for me. This is a stay-with-me-forever read. A few stars could never express how much I loved it!

This is a beautiful story about reunited love, redemption, and forgiveness. It's about loving someone unconditionally despite their flaws. More importantly, it's about moving forward.

This is why I read. This is it. I just melt into a puddle on the floor for a good second chance romance story. I'm still on the floor. OH. MY. STARS! I didn't want it to end. I want to rew...more

This is more than a 5 star read for me. This is a stay-with-me-forever read. A few stars could never express how much I loved it!

This is a beautiful story about reunited love, redemption, and forgiveness. It's about loving someone unconditionally despite their flaws. More importantly, it's about moving forward.

This is why I read. This is it. I just melt into a puddle on the floor for a good second chance romance story. I'm still on the floor. OH. MY. STARS! I didn't want it to end. I want to rewind and read it again.

Priscilla Glenn's writing is music to my book reader mind. She manages to capture the littlest moments and gestures in her writing. She doesn't go over the top with her storyline, and that's what I love the most about her writing. You read about real experiences and real feelings. The emotions these characters were feeling jumped off the page. It's the little things that mean the most and that definitely rings true in her writing.

"You get selective amnesia when it comes to Del."

I knew I'd love the book when I read that quote. To me, that said unconditional love. Lauren was full of unconditional love for this guy. He was the bad boy....go figure...

"And she couldn't help but smile at the irony of the fact that the baddest boy in school could somehow always make her feel like the world was good."

In Back to You we meet Lauren and Michael. They were best friends in high school and now eight years later (after what I guess you could call a "falling out") they meet again. There's a lot of tension between the two at first, but it's obvious they both have lingering feelings for each other. Lauren is single and pursuing her masters degree. Michael is single dad who is working full time and furthering his education. Their paths cross at Lauren's new job which happens to be Michael's daughter's new daycare. Lauren and Michael's history is revealed through flashbacks. I really loved the way the flashbacks were thrown in. They were always woven into the story at the perfect time.

Michael had a troubled childhood. He didn't have a dad around, his brother died, and his mom treats him like trash. He has emotional issues that he struggles with as a teenager as a result of some of his traumatic experiences. Lauren is the only person that ever reached out to free of judgment. She quickly becomes the most important person to him in his life. It's a relationship he really doesn't want to screw up, but he feels like that's all he ever does. Lauren has it bad for Michael. It's obvious. She doesn't think he feels the same, but eventually the lines become blurred for both of them.

"But Lauren had been crossing lines with Michael for as long as she could remember. And she knew from experience that once she did, it was virtually impossible to go back."

For most of the story, you are seeing Michael and Lauren struggle to rebuild their past friendship. It's tough for them because they are both avoiding the real issue that tore them apart so many years ago.

I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that these two had my heart in a twist for the whole story. Lauren's heartbreak nearly tore me in half. I definitely shed a few tears for the girl. One of the things that really caught me about the book was Michael's comment "You're speaking in hindsight." Wouldn't we all love to write a letter to our 18 year old self and fill ourselves in on all the things that we shoulda/coulda done differently? That's just not how it works in real life and that's something that both characters have to come to terms with in this book. Hindsight's 20/20. Also, I really enjoyed reading about Michaels daughter Erin. She was precious. One of the sweetest moments in the whole book is at the end with Erin. Crazy sweet moment. *sigh* I loved it!

Friday, March 28, 2014

There are two kinds of people in the world. The ones who look first, and the ones who leap. I've always been more of a looker. Cautious. A planner. That changed after I met Drew Evans. He was so persistent. So sure of himself -- and of me.

But not all love stories end happily ever after. Did you think Drew and I were going to ride off into the sunset? Join the club. Now I have to make a choice, the most important of my life. Drew already made his -- in fact, he tried to decide for the both of us. But you know that's just not my style. So I came back to Greenville. Alone. Well, sort of alone...

What I've come to realize is that old habits die hard and sometimes you have to go back to where you began, before you can move ahead.

Twisted picks up two years after Tangled's end, and is told from Kate's POV.

I
think maybe I just expected a little too much. This was a fast read, and it was good – it just wasn’t great. Tangled rocked my world…hard…and I went
into Twisted with Drew and Kate up on
a pedestal so high I couldn’t reach it to knock them down, even if I wanted to.
(Okay, I’m really short so I can’t reach
a lot of things, but you get the point.) I should have pulled in the reigns
a little, read the synopsis a few more times, and prepared myself a little bit better.
If I had done those things, I would have realized that Twisted wasn’t going to be like Tangled.
So really, the fact that it fell short of my expectations is no one’s fault but
my own.

Twisted is told from
Kate’s POV, and the only time we get the privilege of being inside Drew’s head is
in the epilogue. I adore Kate and it was nice to delve more into her
personality, to learn more about her. She isn’t the strong, independent, woman
that she portrays herself to be; she has flaws, one of them being *gasp* dependence on a man. What?! No way. This is Kate we’re talking
about here! I know – I was shocked, too! While I missed being in the very
entertaining head of Drew Evans, this novel allowed me to see Kate in a new
light. She became a little bit more human in my eyes. We get to see her
insecurities, her fears, her true feelings towards Drew, and we get to see her,
firsthand, evolve into a different Kate; a Kate that I like even more than I
did before…if that’s possible.

The
storyline was engaging, albeit incredibly frustrating at times. I lost count of
the number of times I wanted to reach into my iPad and shake both of them while
yelling, “JUST FIGURE IT OUT ALREADY!!
DON’T YOU SEE WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!” I felt for Kate, yet wanted to slap
her for just assuming her and Drew were on the same page. Or even in the same
frigging book! And Drew…I pretty much just wanted to junk punch him. Plain and
simple. Even if they were talking
about the same thing – nope, I need to shut my mouth before I give too much
away. There’s a misunderstanding and I’ll just leave it at that. A frustrating
misunderstanding. Okay. Now I’m really done talking about it.

Emma’s
writing is just as wonderful as it was in Tangled,
but again, I think I was just expecting more. Regardless, it’s still a good,
fast read that takes you through the next phase of Drew and Kate’s
relationship, and allows you to see them grow not only as a couple, but
individually. I love these two characters, and I can’t wait to see where Emma takes them and how she wraps up their story in Tied. But I learned my
lesson this time – not every book can be a Tangled.

3 STARS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

By day, Emma Chase is a devoted wife and mother of two who resides in a small, rural town in New Jersey. By night she is a keyboard crusader, toiling away the hours to bring her colorful characters and their endless antics to life. She has a long standing love/hate relationship with caffeine.

Emma is an avid reader. Before her children were born she was known to consume whole books in a single day. Writing has also always been a passion and with the 2013 release of her debut romantic comedy, Tangled, the ability to now call herself an author is nothing less than a dream come true.

Thirty-one-year-old proofreader Bailey Mitchell is a slave to her tics. She inherited Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from her father, and it’s done nothing but inhibit her love life. She’s run the gamut of boyfriends—none of them willing or able to cope with her condition.

Enter 32-year-old Reece Powell, her new coworker at Beach Elite Marketing Firm. He’s more than willing to cope. He finds her habits cute and quirky . . . for now. Reece wins her over, and life coasts along for them until Bailey experiences a devastating blow. Tragedy exacerbates her OCD, and Reece realizes her tics aren’t so cute and quirky anymore. Just like all the others, he has the choice to leave.

But Reece isn't like all the others.

The Wilmington Saga

Follow the stories of Wilmington, NC residents as they fall in and out of love, mend and break hearts, grow, change, lose, win, and experience what it means to truly live in this small coastal community.

“Annie!” I squealed, running and scooping her up before she
had the chance to escape. I rained kisses all over her face. She was clearly
confused, but she seemed to like it. The evidence? She dropped her doll and
squeezed my neck.

Erica stared at me through narrowed eyes. “No one, including
me, likes my children that much. What is going on?”

Annie giggled on cue, like she understood her mother’s
words. I laughed outright.

“Oh my God, who are you?” Erica demanded. “Where’s my BFF
who promised me she’d never have children so I could live vicariously through
her? I swear to God if you’re pregnant…”

“Calm down,” I said over the top of Annie’s head. She
twisted in my arms signaling she was over my show of affection. I placed her on
the floor beside her discarded doll. “How would I even be pregnant?”

“Sex. It’s called sex,” Erica replied. She finished folding
the last of Little Noah’s shirts, then tossed it in the laundry basket.

“Don’t say s-e-x in front of the baby!” I chided.

“B, she doesn’t know what sex is.”

“She’ll repeat it.”

“Who cares?”

“Oh, so you want to be the mother with the kid who knows the
bad words?” I asked.

“Bad word?” Erica asked, laughing.

“You know what I mean,” I said. “You want to be the mother
who all the other mothers gossip about? Like about how bad your parenting
skills are?”

Erica placed her hand on her hip. “Yeah, I do. Fuck ‘em.
Fuck all those mothers. Fuck their playdates and mommy groups and fucking
Melissa and Doug puzzles. Fuck their running strollers and baby couture and
breastfeeding advice. Fuck their—”

“ERICA!”

“What?”

I looked down at the floor, but Annie was gone. She’d walked away
somewhere, no doubt the kitchen since that seemed to be her favorite place to
play.

S. Walden used to teach English before making the best decision of her life by becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband, who prefers physics textbooks over fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has a Westie instead. She is the USA Today bestselling author of Going Under. When she's not writing, she's thinking about it.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

When I love a book as much as I just loved Existence by Abbi Glines, I share the love. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS. And I'm going to make 5 of you! Muahahhaa!Here was my quick review on Goodreads, but I'll write a full review *cough, cough* after I finish the series.

----

Whattt????? That last line!! Oh my goodness gracious!

This is Abbi Glines like I have never seen her before. I was already a fan, but now I'm a super-fan. This book really showed me how much range she has as a writer. I don't know what else to say other than I am so impressed. So impressed. And hooked. I'm starting Predestined right now. The only thing I'm disappointed about is the fact that I didn't read it sooner.

It has a killer plot, great character development, & quick witted dialogue. The storyline was one that I've never personally read about before. So unique. LOVED IT.

"Frenched is perfectly paced, elegantly written, and deliciously sexy. Once you start Lucas and Mia's story, you'll never want it to end." - M. Pierce, bestselling author of the Night Owl Trilogy

When Tucker Branch, playboy heir to Branch Bolt and Screw, screws and bolts a week before their wedding, Mia Devine wants nothing more than to crawl under her newly monogrammed sheets and plan a funeral for her dignity. But her friends convince her that bitter tastes better when it’s drowned in Bordeaux, so Mia grits her teeth and packs her bags, determined to make the best of her luxurious Paris honeymoon—alone.

She never planned on meeting Lucas Fournier.

The easygoing bartender’s scruffy good looks and less-than-sympathetic ear annoy her at first, but when she takes him up on his offer to show her around the city, she discovers that the romance of Paris isn’t just a myth.

Nor is the simultaneous O.

The last thing Mia needs is another doomed love affair, but since she only has a week, she figures she might as well enjoy la vie en O with Lucas while she can. But each day—and night—with Lucas is better than the last, and suddenly her heart is telling her this is more than a rebound fling.

Every now and then it's nice to just read a low key romance that makes you giggle. That's exactly how I would describe this book. I think the author had a really unique sense of humor. The dialogue was very witty from start to finish.

"Be gone, TB. For fucking ever."

HAHA! Love that. Compare the runaway fiancé to a bacterial infection. Very appropriate if you ask me. At least, I think that's what she was doing. That's what it reminded me of. ;)

So the storyline was about a girl named Mia who was dumped via text right before her wedding. If she was honest with herself, she was only going through the motions anyway. She was more obsessed with having the perfect wedding than she was with her fiancé, Tucker. Nevertheless, she's devastated and embarrassed. At the advice of her friends, she decides to take their honeymoon trip to Paris by herself. It's there that she meets the charismatic bartender, Lucas.

At first, she's carrying around this very pessimistic outlook on love. She thinks that Lucas is attractive, but she's not falling all over him. A sexy little romance begins to bloom though and by the end of the week, she's falling in love with this guy she met at a little bar in Paris. Love's not hopeless after all!

I really enjoyed the book. I though it was cute. I loved Mia's personality and her lists.

"Top Five Reasons (Out of 100) I am NEVER Coming Out Of This Blanket Fort."

Overall, cute, quick read. No life altering angst or anything. Just a sweet little romantic comedy.

4 Stars

About the
Author

Melanie Harlow
likes her martinis dry, her lipstick red, and her history with the naughty bits
left in. I write New Adult historical and contemporary stories.

Best friends since childhood, the sexual tension between April and Oliver has always been palpable. Years after being completely inseparable, they become strangers, but the wildly different paths of their lives cross once again with the sudden death of April's brother. Oliver, the responsible, newly engaged law student finds himself drawn more than ever to the reckless, mystifying April -- and cracks begin to appear in his carefully constructed life. Even as Oliver attempts to "save" his childhood friend from her grief, her menacing boyfriend and herself, it soon becomes apparent that Oliver has some secrets of his own -- secrets he hasn't shared with anyone, even his fiancee. But April knows, and her reappearance in his life derails him. Is it really April's life that is unraveling, or is it his own? The answer awaits at the end of a downward spiral...towards salvation.

“All your life you’re yellow. Then one day you brush up against something blue, the barest touch, and voila, the rest of your life you’re green.” – Nana

Let me start off by saying I did really like April & Oliver, but there were a couple things that held me back from really falling in love with it. We’ll get to those issues later on. As much as I love the happily ever after stories (who doesn’t?!), I have recently realized that I love books that have twisted, f*cked up relationships just as much. Relationships aren’t always unicorns and rainbows; they’re also tornadoes capable of mass destruction. Unfortunately, it seems like April was content with the latter.

April and Oliver were best friends throughout their childhood, but drifted apart after high school. Oliver moved away and went to college while April stayed in New York and worked at her late father’s bar. They went from being best friends to complete strangers, and it’s not until the sudden death of April’s little brother, Buddy, that Oliver is jolted back into April’s life…only he’s not alone. He has his fiancée Bernadette in tow. Regardless, Oliver attempts to help April anyway he can even if it may appear that he is more anxious to spend time with her than his fiancée. I kind of went back and forth between liking Oliver; at first, it seemed like April was the self-destructive one and Oliver was simply a good friend who didn’t quite know how to deal with her situation. My opinion of him changed about halfway through the book though. He seemed to want April more, but refused to admit it...or act on it…and that made me mad at him. Not because he wanted April, but because he wasn’t honest enough to admit it to himself, and more importantly, to Bernadette. April warned him that she would only cause problems for him, and yet he still couldn’t leave her alone. I didn’t expect him to drop her like a bad habit given their past, but it just upset me that he wouldn’t own up to his feelings not only for his sake, but for Bernadette’s!

Surprisingly, I didn’t dislike April. I knew going into the book that she would be a bit self-destructive, but I didn’t realize the extent…and yet I still found myself in her corner. You learn about the issues she had with Quincy, her father’s partner in the bar business, and you realize why she is so f*cked up. She’s one of those girls that believes she doesn’t deserve a good man because of her past and her dump truck full of baggage. Instead of realizing her worth, she goes back to an abusive relationship with T.J. because she feels like that’s all she’s good enough for; it’s so sad. She was so used to masking her pain that when she was physically hurt, it didn’t affect her. One instance in particular was really disturbing, and I’m sure you’ll know exactly what part I’m referring to once you’ve read this book. I felt for her from page 1 up until the very end, and somehow I felt bonded to her.

Now, I didn’t give it 5 stars for a couple reasons. The first being that I felt so bad for Bernadette and the way Oliver “looked right through her” on multiple occasions that it made me dislike him. The character of Bernadette was so sweetly written and had such good intentions that it broke my heart a little to see her start wondering if maybe Oliver did feel something for April. I probably still would have been upset had Oliver handled things differently with her, but the fact that he continued to hide his feelings from her upset me. I was also hoping for more of a physical connection between April and Oliver, and unfortunately there isn’t much of that; not that I would condone him cheating on Bernadette (it would have made me dislike him even more), but I feel like we only barely scratched the surface of their physical connection, and I would have liked to delve a little deeper.

All in all, I really liked this book and it is definitely one of the better books I have read recently. I found myself really drawn to both April and Bernadette more than any other characters, which made my emotions play tug-of-war with each other when it came to their relationships with Oliver. Did I want Oliver with April or Bernadette? I don’t think I can answer that, because I haven't really made up my mind yet. I’ll think on it, while you go out and pick up this book. Seriously. Go now.

Lexi has finally given up her once destructive relationships and moved onto bigger and better things with a sexy new man in town. Just when she is starting to figure it out with him, her world is tilted once again with a phone call from none other than Ramsey Bridges. A year after his entrance into her life, Ramsey is trying to make amends and does the one thing she never expects -- invites her to Jack's wedding.

The wedding she has evaded at all costs. But no matter what she does, Lexi can't seem to escape her past with Jack. But does she really want to?

Despite the explosive chemistry between Lexi and Ramsey, she is skeptical about trusting him after everything that has happened. When things are amiss with him, she starts questioning his motives. Can Ramsey be the one to remove Jack from Lexi's life permanently or should she move on with her blossoming new life?

Everything changed. And there was no way in hell I could have ever seen it coming.

After reading Avoiding Commitment, I was 100 percent planted on Team Jack. I didn't care that he was a huge dick and refused to give Lexi a real relationship; when they were together, it was almost like I could feel the steam rising off my iPad. I felt the sexual tension in every way possible. As dysfunctional as they might be, they just fit together. I wanted them together. I wanted Jack to pull his head out of his ass, kick Bekah's bitch ass to the curb, and ravage Lexi right there in his office.

Not anymore.

K.A. Linde made me abandon ship on Team Jack and take a lifeboat over to Team Ramsey.

That’s right, y’all; I am in love with Ramsey. While readingAvoiding Commitment, I thought to myself several times, “Ramsey seems like a nice guy” but I never actually wanted him and Lexi together. I was so firmly rooting for Jack and Lexi that I didn't want to even entertain the idea of her being with anyone else; even someone as mysteriously intriguing as Ramsey. All that changed after Avoiding Responsibility.

I fell for Ramsey Bridges...HARD. The little things he did for Lexi showed just how much he absolutely adored her, and it made my heart smile. And the scene in the kitchen at Ramsey’s house?! CHRIST ON A CRACKER. I needed a cigarette after that; it was that fucking hot. It was at that moment that I realized I was riding shotgun with Ramsey at the wheel, and Jack was in my rearview mirror, standing in the dust. How in the hell K.A. Linde managed to completely rip me away from Jack and throw me into the waiting arms of Ramsey, I’ll never know. But one thing I do know is that she’s good. Damn good.

Now don’t get me wrong, Ramsey and Lexi's relationship isn't all rainbows and unicorns; they have their fair share of shitstorms but it’s nothing that seems unfixable. They seem to perfectly balance each other out and the ending was like a breath of fresh air; just plain perfection.

Avoiding Responsibility gave me so much more than I thought it would. I never expected to love this new path K.A. Linde decided to take me on, but I did. I loved it. Sure, all the characters still pissed me off from time to time and they all deserved a nice punch in their suckholes on several occasions, but the frustration level (for me) wasn’t nearly as high as it was in Avoiding Commitment. I absolutely can’t get enough of this series, and thankfully it’s not over yet. I can only imagine what K.A. Linde has up her sleeve for the third book; I’m already mentally preparing myself…

Jack and Lexi never had a typical relationship. After 2 years without speaking, she receives a phone call that changes everything. He unexpectedly asks her to convince the new girl, Bekah, that he's ready to commit. Jack is calling now after everything they had been through because there is another woman. She can't believe it.

Follow Lexi in this heart wrenching drama as she relives her past relationship, or lack thereof, with Jack, and not just in her own mind, but to his fiancee-to-be. Throw in Bekah's hot brother who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, a past with more secrets to unravel than you can even imagine, and you get a recipe for disaster.

Find out what happens to Lexi as she travels to Atlanta to get the closure she so desperately desires from Jack, and how the bumps of life seem to keep getting in the way.

“We both know what we are. We cheated on other people, and that was what defined us. That was what defined our connection for quite some time.” – Lexi

OH. SWEET. MOSES. This book…it just…I can’t even…

My world got rocked. Hard.

You know that couple that isn't really ever a couple? They flirt, they stand just a little too close to each other all the time, they sneak glances at each other when they don’t think anyone is paying attention…but people are paying attention, they radiate beams of built up sexual tension; it’s the same “couple” that can go from love to hate to love faster than you can blink a fucking eye; they can go years without talking and yet when they see each other, they are like two sexually-charged magnets – drawn together. They fight like cats and dogs, and then make up like rabbits. They should be together…but they shouldn't. They complete each other…but they rip each other apart. They don’t know how to live with – or without – each other. They’re the definition of dysfunction. They are the couple that people love to hate, or hate to love.

Jack and Lexi are that couple. And I hate to love them.

Their relationship is volatile, deceitful, unrestrained, and yet I think...no, I know...I’m on Team Jack. Don’t get me wrong, Ramsey seems sweet, sexy, and stable – but the masochist in me keeps getting drawn back to Jack. Is he a dick? Yeah. Did I call him a son of a bitch a couple times while reading this? Sure did. Were there moments that I wanted to punch him in the mouth? Fuck yes. But there is just something about him that makes me hate him and love him at the same time. I want to rip his head off and rip his clothes off at the same. It’s all very confusing!

The emotions that these characters evoked were intense, to say the least. I think I wanted to punch every single person in the face at least once. Jack and Lexi's relationship frustrated me, upset me, excited me, and gutted me. The sexual tension between them dripped off the pages and if girls could get blue balls, I would have had a pretty severe case of them! Oh, and one of my favorite scenes?? The tunnel at his birthday party.SWEET JESUS, THAT WAS HOT. I mean…holy shit! I had to stop reading for a minute to compose myself because for me, that was one of the most intense scenes in the whole book. Within just those 10 pages, I went from getting hot and bothered to feeling like I got punched in the stomach. It was heart wrenching.

Avoiding Commitment is by far one of the best books I've read not only this year, but ever. In my whole damn life. The writing is almost flawless and the ending left me counting down the days until Avoiding Responsibility’s release date. I need more of this twisted love story in my life. If you want a book with some panty-dropping sex scenes, and more angst than should ever be allowed within one story, buy this book and buy it now! Oh, and while you’re at it, you might as well buy Avoiding Responsibility at the same time, because I can guarantee that as soon as you read the words “The End”, you’ll be dying to know what happens next...